1. Field
The present disclosure generally relates to computer networking, and specifically to updating information on a networked storage device.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known that information (e.g., data files) can be transferred from a client computer and stored onto a networked remote storage device, such as one stored at a server. Software applications on the client computer, however, are often configured to modify and store information stored locally (e.g., on a hard disk drive installed within the client computer). As a result, many client software applications lose and/or incorrectly alter information when attempting to store data files on a server, as will be seen from the following example.
For example, client computers often include word processing applications with a safe saving feature for files. The feature is intended to prevent information loss on a local file system in cases where an attempt to save the file is unexpectedly interrupted (e.g. by a system crash or power outage). If a user were working on an original document and had recently added new text to the original file, and the user then attempted to save the original file with the newly added text, then (1) the original file along with the new text would be saved as a new temporary file, (2) the original file would be renamed, (3) the temporary file would be renamed with the original file's name (thereby creating a file with the newly added text), (4) the creation date of the original file would be altered to match the renamed file, since the renamed file reflects the actual creation date of the original file, and (5) the renamed file would be deleted. To the user of the local file system it appears that the original file was simply saved with the newly added text, because steps (1)-(5) are not known to the user.
Unfortunately, these steps taken by the local file system are not compatible for storing data on many types of servers (e.g., servers having a Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) environment) since attributes associated with the original file will be lost when the original file is moved, deleted, and/or replaced with a new file. Furthermore, many steps taken by the local file system (e.g., steps (1)-(5)) in attempting to store data on a server are unnecessary (e.g., duplicative) and/or ineffective.